Honestly halo 2 having an uninteresting color palette is much more of an issue in the mcc, it looks much more striking in many levels in the original or if u get the relighting mod that fixes alot of the bloom to make it look more like it did on release. Cortana being inconsistent? Sure you can debate that, odst has more of 3s perfection then reach does that's just a fact. 3s story being dissapointing? I think you can make that case but the game is just so bombastic that even if it's the bare necessities of what halo is it's still very enjoyable from setting to setting. With that being said I think it ended perfectly, the brunt of the story is mostly in the ending. Halo 2 also I think hides it's lack of large open fights decently well, yes it's noticeably more linear but none of the people I introduced to halo had nearly as much of a complaint on that front. Everything else I agree with or is rather just a critique on 343s direction which is always good
The point about Halo being on life support is very common and has been since 2013, but the actual detail isn't discussed enough. It's easy for people to say "games bad, franchise dead," but the issue isn't just relevance, it's reputational. The sheer amount of brand damage done to Halo since 2012 is hard to describe. It's not that modern kids aren't aware of Halo, the issue is that they *are* aware of it, and for all the wrong reasons. To the majority of old gamers, Halo is a series that was really good from 2001-2010, and they either moved to PS and forgot it continued, or felt it took a nosedive in quality and never recovered. There are positive memories there, but that's all. To the majority of young gamers, Halo is an old shooter their older brother, uncle or dad played, and the public image of the franchise is one of consistent disappointment, development hell, developer/publisher misconduct and scandal. Scandal after scandal. 12 years of nothing but brand damage so far, who knows how many by the time Halo 7 is revealed, and it's possibly the single greatest uphill battle 343 and Microsoft could face. Repairing that level of damage alone will take years, let alone rebuilding the actual reputation of the series. Personally I don't think it can be done without requiring a level of investment Microsoft aren't willing to put into Halo.
For real man, I felt like Infinite was a turning point in winning a lot of good favor back but all the shenanigans with how the multiplayer was handled really killed that hope in its crib. Player counts at least on pc dropped to like 3-4k within the first 6 months. That kind of population was what Halo 3 and Reach had like 10 years after their launch. They were so close with Infinite but they couldn't help tripping over themselves before the finish line lol.
Halo 3's story is okay but a definite downgrade from Halo 2. It was so disappointing to see the deuteragonist with the compelling backstory and character development be reduced to Master Chief's sidekick. Not to mention the dialogue in general is weaker and cringe at some points. Also the constant Cortana and Gravemind interruptions were really annoying. The campaign was way too short as well with only 9 missions. It's a shame because the game is extremely fun to play and Halo 3 could have been the best if it wasn't for these shortcomings.
I needed to get new, high-quality footage of Halos 2 and 3 to use in the videos recently, and I ended up playing through both twice for some stupid reason. What I found most striking is how dirty The Arbiter is done in 3. He's barely a character at all. It's understandable, of course, given sentiment towards him was very different then compared to now, but it's very jarring when playing the games consecutively.
It’s unfortunate that the fan reception to playing as the Arbiter was very poor at the release of Halo 2. I also think a lot of casual players probably just skipped cutscenes and found themselves stuck in an elite body with no explanation, and didn’t like it. The devs just listened to the audience (something Bungie was good at) and in this case it didn’t work out for the better.
I still think 3 is the best imo, when I look at the games as a whole. Not the best campaign no, but that was probably the greatest game launch experience that I have ever taken part in. I think between the solid campaign, S tier multiplayer, and new additions like forge mode, theater, file sharing, it was not only a fully complete package, but the best Halo game ever released, or at least to me personally.
Halo 3's disappointing story should not be controversial in the slightest. It's not bad by any means, but the character build-up in Halo 2 for the Gravemind, the Arbiter and the Prophet of Truth were simply wasted. The Arbiter is nothing more than a sidekick in this game, the Gravemind went from a cunning villain which fooled both you and the Arbiter to a thing that screams at you during Gravemind moments. And most regrettably Truth, he seemed to have an ulterior motive in Halo 2, which was never truly explained. Why did Truth fracture the Covenant during such a vital moment, did Truth truly believe in the Great Journey and did he know what the rings would do. Instead of giving a satisfying culmination to his character we got a Truth who acts completely opposite to his Halo 2 counterpart. Not cunning but hot-heated and arrogant. Halo 2's original story boards mostly answer these questions. This all is likely due to the unfortunate negotiations that were being done by Joe Staten and Jason Jones with Microsoft concerning Bungie's departure.
Growing up is realizing that Halo 3 has the most fun campaign, with one of the worst stories. After looking into the development of the campaign, it makes total sense. Thank god Marty pulled it all together last minute, to put out something semi tangible
I will give 4 takes from cold to HOT. - NEVER let a new player start with REACH. If anyone wonders why, I can elaborate. - 343 made TOO MANY SPARTANS. They used to be special. Now everyone can be a spartan and ODST's don't matter. - The repulsor is more fun and straight up better than the grapple hook. The fact that they could not get the repulsor in campaign was an atrocity. - Finally. A Halo hero shooter could work.
I tried to get a friend into Halo, and I started with Reach because I like to go chronological on series, aaand I have to agree. It's not a good fit for a new player, it presumes that it's the last game in the franchise and sort of branches out in different experimental ways. I love it, but it is not an introduction to Halo, it's a fond farewell.
@@tiagodecastro2929 halo reach is the first one chronologically but its the most polished and has the most mechanics out of the bungie era games. If you start w CE and move through them by when the games released, then it feels a lot more fluid and easier to take in. Ive tried starting on reach several times but i get too invested w the characters and mechanics that when i move to CE it feels like a huuge step back
The Spartan 4s could have worked if they were significantly weaker than the IIs and IIIs. ODSTs could have been the rouge class. Doing the job then blending back into the crowd of regular troopers. The sucker punch. Spartan II and IIIs are the uppercut and jab. Enemy's a bit dazed from the surprise attack but now the real fight begins. They take down the now alerted but weakened enemy. ODSTs give Spartans a chance, but the mission went from impossible to technically possible. IVs are for everything inbetween. Stronger than ODSTs, weaker than Spartans. For when a .22 won't cut it and an RPG is overkill. Works similar to the IIIs but with slightly worse performance. The genetic augments are a step above Orions but still need Mjolnir to be restricted and cheaper so it doesn't kill them.
@@tiagodecastro2929 (Reach is my favorite Halo game before I continue) Halo Reach has so many new mechanics. It don't make sense to give em all the mechanics and pull the rug out from under em with CE. Also narrative stuff like delivering Cortona does not has the same impact if you have no idea how important she was.
I never even thought of Halo having a different protagonist along the entire game other than Chief, but it honestly makes sense. I'd love to have a few games dedicated to Buck's rise through the ranks as a marine, then ODST and finally a Spartan.
Buck would have been a good choice, as he would have kept 343's work connected to Bungie's stories but provided enough wiggle room to develop something new as well.
10:09 yeah that’s a lot of franchises now. Halo, Mass Effect, Fallout, Dragon Age, Call of Duty, Far Cry, etc. The people who made these franchises special are all long gone, it’s just the brand title now.
Regarding the people who made Halo special being long gone, I believe several of the OG people have actually expressed an interest/willingness in returning. I'm really not sure why Microsoft/343 wouldn't be all over getting as many of them back as possible. They did hand the reigns back to Joe Staten and very briefly Paul Bertone, but I think rumor is that they were purposefully kicked back out...
If you want Fallout, the London mod is the way to go. It has its shortcomings, but it's a pretty spectacular achievement considering it's a mod. I hope Mass Effect returns to its former glory at some point too, 2 in particular is such a special game.
Agree 100% on the health packs. It’s a perfect balance of two health systems and has far more strategy in gameplay than only regenerating health. I was thrilled when they returned in Reach and could not understand why 343 scrapped them again for 4.
The genius is that it rewards considered play far more than simply having recharging shields. With only shields, every encounter can be viewed as a one off, as you always have the same health conditions, so to speak, going into it, with there being no long-term consequences for poor play. With shields and health, the shields are there to ensure any encounter is beatable regardless of how well you've done prior, while the health provides consequence across the enitre level.
My controversial opinion is that it'd be okay if Halo died at this point, if they just stopped making games. They can't cater to a new audience because the new audience isn't interested in the IP. And the old audience is jaded and would rather play the older Halo games. 343 and Microsoft should think about making something new. Something not tied to the expectations of Halo, that could appeal to a new and old audience. But I can't see them doing that, you can't really be creative in large gaming companies anymore, because there's too much money on the line. So more realistically, if Halo doesn't die, I really hope they just help iterating on Infinite's sandbox and not reinvent the wheel for every new game.
The ridiculous budget required to produce a modern triple A game these days is such a huge problem. It's an interesting thing to think about, as technologies are emerging to counter that, to some degree, think AI being used in various ways or ray tracing eliminating the design cost associated with pre-baked lighting, shadows etc. But then, there will also be less jobs and creativity is stifled, so where do you draw the line?
This take hurts my heart heavily, but is an honestly good take. I hate it, but its like knowing your dog has cancer. I really dont want to see it go, but watching it die slowly is somehow even worse. No good options.
I used to play tons of SWAT. As a Counterstrike fanatic, I value speedy headshots highly, and being able to do that in Halo as well was right up my alley.
Asking out of curiosity: considering the wealth of games out there with very short time-to-kill and how what of the big things that makes Halo unique is it's longer TTK… why play Halo when you could play some of those other games with shorter TTK? Not judging your taste or anything, just curious.
I will, in regards to Cortanas look over the various games and ages. I only actually like the model from the 1st game, yes it's a bit clunky and looks odd but I don't see an issue with that? She is, as you say, not human, and it benefits massively the animation style since she doesn't need to compose herself like a human. Theres also the fact that she is your (Master Chiefs) friend, and I liked that your friend on an alien world is also herself quite alien. Plus her appearance is not sexualised like the later models which again I appreciate, because she is your friend not a side quest or piece of eye candy. Elements of her visual style, like her glowing eyes, also works very well with her changing tone of voice which is harder to pull off when your character is meant to look as human as possible. You can play with the colours used on a purposefully designed non realistic character without the effect just looking strange compared to a realistic model.
hate the coomers that always yap about halo 4 cortana, absolutely obnoxious i agree though, my two favourite cortanas are CE and Infinite's; the weapon is also great too.
The popularity is still there, but I agree. The damage is already done and 343 fumbled around for an entire decade while the era of Halo grows more and more distant.
11:29 Y’know for the longest time, I never understood why there were a good chunk of people that disliked Halo 2’s gameplay, then recently I played through the OG trilogy back to back and I saw it lol. Halo 2 is such a bug-ridden, janky, unbalanced mess with the worst iteration of both the covenant and the flood. It’s still a great game, and most of the problems stemmed from development hell and rushed work so it’s more acceptable.
That would be a good equalizer. It would certainly solve it being used to trivialize encounters like it can with jackals and elites. You'd have to save that last grapple shot for either a quick escape or a clutch strike.
I reckon it needs to be a pick up available only in certain areas. Imagine parts like the jumps with the bullfrogs during Exodus in Reach, where the area feels like its been set up to work alongside the jet pack. Otherwise, levels always have to be designed with the possibility that you can go anywhere whenever, which I'd guess makes creating curated encounters nigh on impossible.
@@BenPlaysGames True, specially-tailored sections with the grapple-shot in mind would be an awesome time, I do worry about them being too far and few between and leaving us wanting more though lol
I think a counter to the mobility and versatility of the grapple shot, would be to give more enemies increased mobility. Give some higher ranked enemies thrusters or short ranged jump packs.
Some people might want to kill me because of this, but I think Halo Reach has a better story/gameplay combo than Halo 3... but thats not to say Halo 3 is bad, not at all
Same. I replay the Reach campaign most often, then 2, then ODST, then 3, then CE. The reason why I don't replay CE as much is the levels can be very very long on top of having the worst level in the series also be very long.
Bro, I continue to gain more respect for you with every video (and I already had quite a bit). I legit received death threats over my (not so positive) review of Halo 2. Hearing you say that it’s your least favorite Bungie Halo to play, while still being able to appreciate the story and soundtrack is genuinely refreshing. Same with your thoughts regarding Halo 3. Still my favorite Halo game, but the story was VERY subpar. And of course, Combat Evolved is and will always be amazing. Hope to do a collab video one day 😊❤️
I just finished infinite, the grapple shot was so fun. Grappling and chaining boosts to fly around was probably the most fun I’ve had moving around in halo. I also loved it let you fly punch with the upgrade. Kind of made me feel like I was actually doing “master chief but in the books” things. I can see a world where it’s only available at certain times (maybe something they could do with jetpacks again). So long as it enhances and makes things feel special. But I really would miss it now I think
Here's a take from me. 343 started great with Halo 4, the music was amazing, the story was pretty damn good and they really humanized chief and Cortana. But with halo 5, they went off the rails. They promised a campaign that was nothing that was shown or even advertised to be. They used to many references from outside material like books, shows and comics making outside reading REQUIRED other then additional hold up or for fans to be like "oh yea that!". I watched nightfall so I knew Locke, we all knew Buck and I knew blue team. But Tanaka and the other on Osiris? Nothing. Making outside materials required to understand story and not to supplement is not a good move. That's when it got off the rails for me, like again in Infinite they made the Banished the main enemies, well go play Halo wars 2 if you want that story and how it led here!
The Prometheans were an awful enemy and aesthetically awful, not to mention the covenant became dinosaurs for some reason. The plot twist was somehow even worse. 4 Had a fun multiplayer, but damn was the story forgettable at best. I genuinely believe the community as a whole should redact 5 entirely. I can not explain in words how entirely disgusting everything about it was.
I've been a Halo fan since 2002 and im so happy i got to watch/grow up with Halo. It makes me proud that i got to experience its golden days. Halo 3 even brought me an online friend from Canada who has been friends with me for over 10 years.
That's awesome about your Canadian mate. I was playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory one day, got chatting to some dude and mentioned (vaguely, of course) where I lived. Turned out he was a 30-second walk away round the corner, so I popped over and we had a couple of beers. Still one of the most bizarre online experiences I've had.
Honestly I think 343 did try to keep Cortana’s design consistent in their trilogy. Halo 5 was clearly supposed to look like halo 4 Cortana. In the opening cutscene Cortana looks just like she does in halo 4 but they padded out her chest and made her code tattoo pattern more Symmetrical. But the problem in halo 5 was her face. She looks weirdly doll like and less expressive. She’s not ugly, just odd looking. In halo infinite she looks a little better but not by much. And Jen does a way better voice performance for Cortana than she does a motion capture performance. She did great with the weapon but it felt like Cortana was mimicking the weapon. It kinda felt like Jen was having a hard time making them have different mannerisms which wouldn’t have been a problem if Cortana didn’t suddenly start showing mannerisms that she hadn’t in the past and the weapon was, and the made it seem like Cortana had always been that way.
Halo 3's campaign story probably feels underwhelming because it's really the leftovers from Halo 2. It was never intended to be another full game. If you look at it as Halo 2.5 with a tighter sandbox, it begins to make more sense.
this is a good way to put it - honestly if halo 2 released at it's full potential it probably would've been the biggest videogame release of all time lol
It was also because the story was written by committee and Joseph Staten was on vacation while Jason Jones was on sabbatical which left the Bungie team without clear direction on where to go.
The grapple shot in infinite is way too useful, we shouldn't have been given unlimited uses of it. I did playthrough without using the grapple shot unless I had to and I can say that Halo Infinite is a lot better without it.
Another big problem is that the controls for switching to other equipment are terrible, which really discourages their use. During my recent Infinite playthroughs I tried to use a mix of them, but gave up as I kept fumbling when trying to use something different. It's still more complicated than it perhaps needs to be, but I'd have the four equipment each on a d-pad direction with grenade switching elsewhere. That way, you're always a single button press away from switching to whichever you need.
For the point abt the flood, there is potetnial opening for them, including an infected Spartan. Just depends if 343 want to take that plot thread from Saturn Devouring His Son audiobook. They could use it for a spin-off game set around 2556-2557 (in universe year)
I still think 3 is the best imo, when I look at the games as a whole. Not the best campaign, no, but that was probably the greatest game launch experience that I have ever had the privilege to take part in. The whole "finish the fight" marketing and Mountain Dew collab. Man. I'm definitely somewhat blinded by rose tinted nostalgia glasses, but I think between the solid campaign, S tier multiplayer, arguably best sandbox and new additions like forge mode, theater, file sharing, it was not only a fully complete package, but the best Halo game ever released, or at least to me personally.
To be fair Halo infinite had 20 million players at one point, so the popularity is still there, it was just the execution, Unless 343 lied about the numbers
I like Infinite, like completing every Weekly since late-Winter Update like it (It’s the best multiplayer experience since CE/2, moreso CE and Halo 3 is Mud Trudger 2007: Crappy Sandbox Edition), but I think the 20 million was unique players over a timeframe.
I love Infinite's gameplay. In fact, and this isn't something I'm proud of, I have more than 1,000 hours logged on multiplayer since its release. It may well be considerably more honestly, but I can't bear to look. I just bounced off it eventually (haven't played regularly in months) due to net code still being rubbish despite the game's age. It's insane how bad it can be at times.
I have to agree with you on Halo 3's story. It was too short and too compressed, plus there were only 9 levels, and some levels are just fillers. Ben actually explained this, and that he said that Halo 3's story would've been so much better if there were short cutscenes or shorter levels, rescue Cortana in the midpoint of the game, then finish it with a bang in the second half. On Halo 2's visuals, yes. Too dark, especially the indoor environments, and even Quarantine Zone's outdoor sets.
Can't agree more on the grapple-shot! The extreme number of indoor forerunner spaces through the Halo Infinite campaign are the result of the grapple-shot. You'd need a load of disappointing invisible walls to have linear outdoor sections.
I completely agree with Halo being on life support. I daresay the franchise can never recover, not without a miracle. And that miracle will never come from 343, perhaps a CE with a good portion of the original dev team could breath some new life into the franchise: Marcus Letho as art director, Marty O'Donnell as audio director, Joe Staten as cinematic and narrative director. But that's likely the most unlikely scenario for this franchise. And I hate that, I absolutely love Halo. It has been and always will be my favourite gaming franchise.
I actually liked Escharum as a main villain, his whole like character and personality just fits with me and the idea of him dying from a terminal illness and would rather die in battle against the Master Chief is such a badass way to die, knowing he’d die in a 1v1, and the cherry on top is the Chief comforting him as he dies, despite being enemies they are both soldiers and were just doing their job
...right after escharum was done torturing chief's friend almost killing him the same way spartan griffin was...lol i get what they wanted to do but they went with it very awkwardly.
Yeah its always so great to watch the character who has been the only one keeping the entire race from being obliterated suddenly become forgiving and friendly to a creature that is helping put his friends, and his entire species at risk of extinction (again). Im not trying to say he shouldnt have emotion, or that humanizing him is a bad thing, but his ENTIRE PREMISE is that he is the staunch defender of humanity, why would he sympathize with someone that malicious that killed hundreds if not thousands of people?
I was introduced to Halo as a franchise around the time of Halo 4s launch and as a result I have an extremely nostalgic connection to 343s early games being 4 and 5. But it’s hard for me to argue that Halo now isn’t as popular as it once was as I never got to experience Halo 2 or 3 in its prime. As a result I do like those older Bungie titles, I mean combat evolved is one of my favourites in the franchise, but I just don’t “get” why people are all over them, probably for the same reasons why I love Halo 4 and 5 being deeply engraved into my childhood.
About the grapple shot. I think it should return as an optional armor ability like sprint was in halo reach. I could definitely see some campaign levels built entirely around traversing via a convenient grapple shot you found nearby, and it makes for a nice addition to the sandbox. That being said, I've never played 5 or infinite, so I'll admit it may be worse than it seems, but i dont think it should be shelved entirely. Just reduced to just another toy in the toy box that is halo at its best.
Halo 3's story has a lot of issues. Too many levels take place on Earth. Not enough levels take place on the Ark, and pretty much everything that happens in the story, happens after The Storm. The elites feel underutilized. They ought to have been a consistent presence through the game so we could get a better sense of tension between them and the UNSC. The Arbiter and Spec Ops Commander have almost nothing to do in terms of character development, and I think Halo 3 absolutely needed some cutscenes that follow Truth's perspective, so we could have a better sense of how our actions affect the Covenant, and he needed to be written to be less of a psycho and more of a refined psychopath as he was in Halo 2. Overall the story just needed more time to breathe.
The take that gets me the most death threats is that Combat Evolved is the best in the franchise and no other game comes close. I've heard all the criticisms, but they either don't make sense or don't apply to me. Phenomenal game.
My hot takes: Halo 2 legendary is my preferred way of playing the game Halo 3's story has such bland and watered down writing I genuinely cannot enjoy it. Basically killed everything halo 2 had going for it. Halo 4's story is rough around the edges but still of high quality Halo 5 multiplayer is the best multiplayer I've ever played Halo infinite is overall a very bland, unimpactful experience campaign wise
The thing with a Flood infected Spartan is that it has recently actually happened. And the infected Spartans have access to an FTL capable vessel. So, that could make for something interesting later on.
i think the best shot at a flood comeback is the halo ce remake. hopefully they don’t screw it up. thanks for the video ben. do you plan on streaming anytime soon?
No worries, noah! I do plan to get back to streaming next week. I've had the dual issue recently of not sleeping well and my back playing up, which has meant I'm always tired in the evenings and not in the humour to be upbeat and chatty. Still knackered but back's getting better now, so should be grand to get started again in a few days' time.
I think it would be really interesting from a gameplay standard, but also storywise, if the flood came back with new tactics. They're portrayed as an unimaginabely old force, with all the arrogance to go with it. After being defeated the way they were by humanity, it would be a really cool concept to see them go back to the drawing board, then maybe in gameplay see them trying different things, with some of them working and some of them not until the next level or so where they consolidate their strategies.
i literally remember my 12 year old self beating halo 3 after all the anticipation and hype thinking “that’s it? that’s the conclusion?” you explained it perfectly.
I agree a lot with the Chief should have stayed gone for a bit more. It would let the universe mature. Most sci fi is either at contact (Halo) or well past it, so the dust of the covenant war would need to settle before new tensions rise and new heroes would be better apt for the new universe. I sometimes also wonder if it would be better to have a Halo CE 2, as in 343 just remakes it with a few changes perhaps and reboots the series. Clearly 343 wants to change the direction and have the Chief, so just clearing the slate a bit more would give better creative freedom. Sometimes it works for comic books.
Pretty much completely agree! Few of these takes should to be controversial. I'll add a couple: 1: Halo developers need to find gameplay that feels good and true to Halo and then adapt the story and aesthetics around said gameplay. It's more important to to have core Halo gameplay be good than avoiding retcons (is anybody anoyed that they brought Johnson back for H2 despite dying potentially many times in CE?). 2: Bosses suck and shouldn't really be in any Halo game. Yes, I include Infinite in that. (Really powerful enemies used sparingly in another matter though, just don't *ever* put in me in another boring boss arena). Thanks for the video again! I'm finally back to playing Halo after a long break, but I never stopped watching your Halo vids.
I think the grapple shot was introduced bc of the open world. Halo 1 walking in Infinite would've been tedious and driving everywhere just means you've got lots of empty space, the grapple shot allows for a middle ground exploration 343 cops a lot of flak for making Chief have feelings, but this was already a direction the series had taken under Bungie just not with Chief, 343 just continued that and the only way they knew how to continue to series was bringing Chief back Halo Infinite was a very good base for a modern game as a service thing, they just didn't follow that up with any content to keep it going Halo 2 is best Halo, how dare you lol
I didn't have an Xbox 360 growing up, so I never got to play Halo in it's prime. I'm fine with Halo not being the big game everybody plays, I just wish we get a new game that doesn't split the fanbase every time. On another note, I'm fine with Master Chief returning in 4, but after the end of that game, especially seeing how the game ended, he should has sat out for at least one game before returning. Halo 5 would have been better, in my opinion, if it would have focused exclusively on Fireteam Osiris, without having to force in Blue Team, the Master Chief and Cortana as well.
11:28 I ABSOLUTELY AGREE! But one thing I've noticed as I watch lots of new people playing Halo for the first time, they love it. In fact, many of them tend to struggle with CEs level design and even dislike it. Maybe it's nostalgia or how tutorial help in gaming culture was back then but the narrow paths of 2 is something I've universally seen new Halo players welcome while some don't care for or even reject CE. Halo 3 did do it better and they enjoyed it too but 2 is what really captured new players I've seen
I overall agree with your points Ben, the one that hits the hardest as a Halo player since CE is that Halo will never reach its greatness (or half of it as you mentioned) again. Honestly, I've played all 343 Halo games but each time they have captivated me less and less, I will never forget the countless hours I spent on Halo 2, 3, Odst and Reachs multi-player, and not to mention Forge and firefight included in those games (especially ODST, looking at you Vidmaster challenges but having Recon armor in Halo 3 made it worth it / a dream come true). All Halos afterwards I played but only for a certain time, I was not intrigued enough to replay the campaign on legendary or dive enough/ for long into forge and MP, which saddens me as I love this IP. I think Infinite was a step in the right direction, but the good ol' days are indeed gone and forever in our memories. Great video Ben, cheers!
I know that Halo 3: ODST was a relatively low budget asset flip of Halo 3 that was in many parts also a testing ground for what would ultimately become Halo Reach, but my biggest hang up with it is how little I feel like it actually makes the most out of it's potential from a player character perspective, especially in regards to what you can do as just an ordinary human in a war fighting alongside borderline genetically altered demigods against an alien alliance where even the weakest of their ranks can make mincemeat out o you. While I largely do lovs ODST and think it executes well enough on its concepts given the resources it had available to it, what bothered me the most about it was that I never truly felt like a grunt fighting an enemy who by all accounts should have me feeling in over my head. For all the training the ODSTs recieve, they're still only human. But instead, I never truly felt that, more just like a slightly nerfed Master Chief.
Regarding your Spartans or Power Rangers tangent, I'm inclined to agree with your points, though to expand further, I think there should be a healthy balance between something like the hand-to-hand/gunplay combat of John Wick and the more super hero elements of what Halo 5 and the novels present. The Spartans being more agile works in the books for me because a lot of that is up to the interpretation of the reader, I think directly translating it to a cutscene while forgetting that Halo has its roots in the likes of Aliens, Starship Troopers (the original 1954 novel in particular) and other gritty military sci-fi results in something that, yes, looks very fucking cool, but also can't help but look a bit silly too.
I would love a flood focused horror game where you play as a group of Marines trying to lead a group of civilians out of the ruins of New Mombasa as the flood slowly close in around you all the while the looming threat of being glassed is weighing over your heads
Ben, you bring up a lot of points that I have had brewing in my head for a while and new ones that I still agree with. I would’ve preferred if they let Master Chief sit on ice a little bit while 343i took the opportunity to establish new characters and stories. I imagine the suits probably saw the green giant as the poster boy for Microsoft though and thought people wouldn’t know what Halo was without him. I also agree that if they do bring The Flood back, which I think they should, that we shouldn’t defeat them in the same game we find them in. 343, or Halo Studios now, needs to understand that regardless of fan backlash, that the writers should see their story to completion, and stop softly rebooting the story every game. Let The Flood win and let it happen for a few games. Not everything needs to happen in the same game.
I like the idea of the Flood winning for a game or two if they're going to be reintroduced to re-establish why they're such a threat. There are only so many times they can show up and get beaten without them seeming like a neutered threat. It's the same problem with the Borg in Star Trek.
My controversial opinion is that I dislike the cast of ODST. They have cardboard personalities and are very uninteresting. The only thing interesting about the rookie is that he’s quiet and we can project ourselves into his shoes and story. Buck is good enough though, but other than that the others are so unlikeable, stereotypical and shallow. The relationship between Dare and Buck, while okay that they explore relationships in Halo, it just felt very… idk, like out of a goofy early 2000s bad action movie. Don’t get me wrong, Reach and ODST are lit my favorite games in the series, I just don’t like the squad in ODST.
I think a Halo spinoff that plays like Halo 5 could be very popular, and there’s a surprisingly die hard multiplayer community too. I may wish the story of Halo 5 didn’t happen but man that game was crisp. Following infinite’s art style and play style I think is good for main style with small changes in the future. Like I give props to 343 for trying to become different but they should’ve stuck to one consistent story and be more consistent on gameplay mechanics. But taking Halo 4 and 5’s gameplay styles I do think can find success in spinoffs
Good video, these ideas really provoked my Halo fanboy brain and I gotta say my thoughts for each section A) I can understand and agree that Halo 3’s story was pretty underwhelming objectively. Let’s take off the rose tinted glasses and analyze each flaws with the campaign. First of all the VA’s for Miranda and Truth have been replaced. Not sure why. Second, Johnson keeps getting captured every so often which doesn’t sound like Johnson. Third while the whole theme is behind Hope and Faith from Chief coming back, it pretty much overshadows Cortana’s role which she doesn’t even come until like the 9th or so mission at the end of the campaign. B) I really love the Grapple Shot. I know you have some conflicting views about its usage in the open world and the level design. I find it to be a primary fun factor and that’s what makes a video game so important and enjoyable. The Grapple Shot really brings fast-thinking moments in action whether it’s grabbing a weapon that cannot be reach, hijacking an enemy vehicle, or simply boosting the speed/momentum of traveling. I don’t think it should be scrapped but rather like you say as an equipment. C) It has been proven that Halo can be more than just Chief. ODST and Reach are like spin-off stories that tell the angles not told before. As well as Halo Wars and Halo Wars 2. I think 343 and MS should keep the idea of other people’s parts in the universe to expand the lore and what happens. For those that say Chief is only being used as a puppet I’m gonna destroy that argument here in another point. D) I understand the Cortana design philosophy in each Halo game like in CE she was purple, then 2 she’s blue, in 3 she’s even more blue and bright. 4 and 5 she kept a consistent design until Infinite which is pretty impressing to think about. E) Spartans in lore versus the gameplay or what is being presented in the games are a balancing factor. In the novels Kelly is so fucking fast that anyone can barely get a glimpse of her, what we saw in the introduction of 5 was just for power fantasy and entertainment lol F) I never thought or kept in mind when CE was being developed taking the traditional arena shooter like health system and improvising it. Health in FPS games has been a greater importance of survival for Half Life, Doom, and Quake. The shield was merely a layer for the player to think methodically because you’re a Spartan, not a marine. G) I am now a firm believer that every franchise or IP has hit their peak at least once. And just like the reality we live in, as much as we want the golden era of video games and movies back. It’s gonna be a rough challenge because the gaming and movie industry has CHANGED majorly. It’s more about stocks and shareholders than passion & creativity. Sure now there are some games that keep the principle of awesomeness and fun going like Space Marine 2, Black Myth Wukong, Helldivers II etc. Halo will be alright, but it cannot reach the Second Coming of Christ because we all age so quickly and our perception of the past blinds our ambitions. H) I find Halo 2 to be entertaining as hell especially the marine and covenant ally dialogue. I) I am one of those that hate the Flood as an enemy because they’re so annoying. But I feel they have an identity crisis because of the Forerunners now brought into play and only act as a galaxy threat to the franchise and every sole beings existence. Rather they should be used wisely in a narrative rather than just a common occurring enemy.
One thing that bothered me about halo 3 was that the whole first half of the game was just a road trip to the portal to the ark with basically no other objective. Then stuff happens.
First point I agree fully with, it isn't really controversial either from what I have gathered. The story does take a step down in terms of complexity and depth. It of course doesn't take away from the absolutely wonderful game that Halo 3 is though. Actually, the way you phrase it, the grapple shot really wasn't all that good an idea for Halo. Of course it's incredibly fun to use, but it's just so overpowered and often gives you an easy way out. Master Chief point I can agree with as well, 343 should have started with one or two spin offs, introducing new characters and keeping the chief in ice but this is actually a little more controversial, I can only remember how hyped I was when Halo 4 was revealed. Cortana's redesign suffers from the thing that the whole of the reclaimer saga suffers. "It was great before, let's change it" seems to be their design philosopy. And while it doesn't matter to me all that much how exactly Cortana looks, I can see why many might be irked. The spartan power rangers thing I don't agree all that much with honestly. Because given the possiblity, a four man team of players would plow through a group of covenant exactly that way. Though I think the problems here stem from a deeper problem. The tone shift that halo 5 suffers from. Each Halo was, as you said, gritty and militaristic, with Reach being by far the most gritty one. And then you have Halo 5, that just seems to be going for a cartoony look and feel. It's rated T for Teen for a reason. Ah yes, Halo is 100% on life support as you say it. It's been declining ever since Halo 4 released and instead of setting trends like the bungie era games did, 343 has only been chasing trends, trying to appeal to a broader audience. Rebooting the franchise with each new entry and waiting for such a long time between 5 and 6 with no content besides book and Halo Wars 2 was a pretty bad idea. Halo could become successful again, I don't doubt that, but just how the series is going to continue on is hard to say sadly. Finally someone says it. Halo 2 has some of the most boring levels in the series and even the high points aren't all that high when you rank them compared to the other Halo games. It's just...narrow and while I can see how the brown colour palette came to be, I don't like it either, it's just missing vibrant colours. Halo 2 is still absolutely amazing as a game, but out of the series, it simply has the worst level design. The flood take is probably the most controversial one. But I see where you are coming from and I tend to agree with your point. The flood are beaten and I think they should mostly just stay that way. Bring them back in (again) spin offs. I didn't play it, but I've been told that awakening the nightmare was a great way to handle it and that is where I see the flood in the future, at least for a long while.
I thought the grapple was cool, felt a lot like the gmod grapple hook swep. But it would absolutely destroy a mission like Truth and Reconciliation, where verticality a big part of the ship section
Here’s my take on the campaigns - If you want the best set pieces you play Reach - If you want the best gameplay and level design you play 3 (minus cortana) - If you want the best writing and story you play 2 - If you want the most balanced experience you play CE - If you want the best atmosphere you play ODST - If you want none of what’s listed above you play Halo 5 Lmk what y’all think
I agreed 1000% with the take that Master Chief’s story should’ve ended at Halo 3. He is a heroic figure that conquered the flood and the covenant. However, the characters in 343i Halo don’t get a chance to shine with MC taking the whole spotlight. They should’ve done the Reach route where we make a Spartan IV and play the campaign and multiplayer as that Spartan. Then we could’ve followed and bonded with Locke and Palmer, two characters that I like, but are not popular because one has a mission to bring the MC in for going AWOL and the other had the nerve to do the worst possible thing a person could ever do to another human being, she made a sly joke that any normal person would forget about almost immediately after it was said
I think I have the winning isolated answer. I think Halo 2 and 3 were a narritive setback. Notice I said narritive. Why? Halo CE treated the story of the UNSC has a whole with characters playing their role. With 2 and 3, they focus so hard on characters, the UNSC took a backseat. With Maranda Keyes specifically doing stupid shit that doesn't make sense because she had to have her spotlight
I did actually do something along those lines in this video: ruclips.net/video/2srjx_qgvFk/видео.html I can't remember what I said in it (terrible memory) but I think it goes into some detail about the idea.
My hot takes (sorry in advance): 1. Halo 3 is the worst Bungie game, and it isn't even close. Sgt. Johnson's death was cheap and out of place, and it robbed us of future stories with him. And I don't agree at all that the ending of Chief and Cortana being adrift in space was the "perfect ending." It felt like a huge cliffhanger (especially after viewing the legendary ending). Additionally, Halo 3 doesn't look good graphically; it looked very rushed to me and lacked a bunch of much-needed polish. Lastly (and I could be wrong about this), it's very clear that Halo 3 was not designed to be played solo; it's clearly a coop game. Playing it solo is very dull and disappointing, especially for someone like me who likes to solo the campaigns. All of this combined makes Halo 3 an extremely unpleasant experience to play. 2. Halo 4 is my second favorite Halo game (Halo 2 is my favorite). Yes, the MP is too COD-esque, and the Promethians are a slog to battle. However, the scenery, world-building, and the variety of settings (forest, UNSC ship, etc.) made the game feel very fresh to me. Plus, as I said above, Halo 3 gave me no cloture with its ending (I argue that it's worse than Mass Effect 3's ending), but 4 did give me that cloture I was longing for (yes, Cortana was "dead," but our hero Master Chief got to go home not into another cryo-chamber). 3. Will there be more Halo games? Yes. Will it be impossible for them to succeed? Absolutely. 343 does share a large portion of the blame for this, but in addition to that, we, as Halo fans, are a dwindling fanbase and currently out of sync with the current dynamic of video games. It truly breaks my heart to say that. Sadly we are at the point now where it isn't so much as can 343 put out a good Halo game, but rather, would enough "non-Halo initiated" people care? 4. I predict that the next Halo game will not continue Infinite's story and be a true reboot in an effort to capture new fans. New fans won't buy a Halo 7 that continues a story that they never played in the first place. Again, we are a dwindling fanbase, and as Sean W said, "we don't matter." 343 and its trajectory has become so convoluted that there is really no other way forward, other than wiping the slate clean and starting over. Expect a Star Trek (2009) style reboot that does enough to honor what came before but does other things that changes its vibe, becoming the new "status quo" of Halo. 5. The rumors of the Unreal engine being used for future games will not make them feel like Halo, and handing the franchise to another studio will not make the future games feel like Halo either (it would actually make them worse). 6. I fully expect 343 to be radio silent until they are ready to announce something (if they ever do). Xbox Games Showcase 2025 at the earliest. And when they do, it will either be a small trailer, or they will say "we are working on the next main entry in the Halo franchise" and will have more to share in 2026, leaving it at that. The reason for this is that the longer they wait, the more impactful an announcement will be. My guess is (however irrational it may be) that when they announce something, they want to have that GTA 6-type splash.
Couldn't agree more about Halo 2's gameplay. It's the one I dread playing the most when going through the series, really only looking forward to the cinematics.
Thanks for the video, interesting stuff. Unfortunately have not played all of them. CE was the first one I played. Very scary and difficult for a complete beginner ! Took a long time to finish it Lol... ODST - to be honest, did not know what I was supposed to be looking for besides other soldiers...v confusing. Halo 3 - so so... Reach - blown away by it. The graphics,the music, the story line - absolutely adore it. Wish there were more like it.......
No worries, Janet! Hope all's well. I love Reach too, quality game. I'd have loved more Master Chief free ensemble games like it and ODST, as it's a format that worked really well.
@@BenPlaysGames Indeed, that format is great. I have nothing against ODST, I just didn't understand the mission, plus walking around that city in the dark was creepy ! Have a great day...
Agreed the grapple is fun, but it turns the perfect Halo combat triangle into some sort of square, level design and tactics become so fluid that they don't really matter anymore. I think that's a really well considered take from you.
If the grapple shot had realistic products physics it might be worth keeping. You'd actually dangle from it instead of just flying in a straight line, and it wouldn't be nearly as fast. This series needs to get closer to Halo 5 gameplay again. Thrust was a real game changer and Infinite's sandbox keeps getting changed because players no longer have a way to counter strong weapons or extend a fight and possibly turn the tables. I also don't think that Halo 5 scene is representative of Spartans from the books. The books keep in mind that they're part of a military force that has given them extensive training on effective tactics. Spartans move in squads, they use strategy, they rely on weaponry and force multipliers like vehicles, not heroic stunts.
love all these points but i kinda disagree with the health pack one. halo 2 and 3’s campaigns have a lot of replayability because i can approach enemy encounters differently each time without worrying about finding health packs. now, i absolutely love halo reach which uses health packs but i always have to play in a certain way to get through the campaign efficiently and have less spontaneous gameplay freedom compared to 2 and 3.
My hot takes: 1. The Library and Cortana, while terrible, are necessary for both game and story. First, they introduce the Flood as a true horror enemy. Second, their monotonous tone makes the following levels a breath of fresh air, despite being eerily familiar and kind of monotonous in their own rights. (Seriously, Assault on the Control Room THREE TIMES!) 2. Halo 3 ruined any future Halo games. It eliminated the Flood (mostly) and ripped up the Covenant. Basically, our hero defeats the biggest baddies in-universe. Bungie didn't even try to write a proper sequel, and when 343i tried, they had to do some retconning of the Forerunners and Cortana to build anything near the level of either the Covenant or Flood. Basically, Halo 3 "finished the fight," and everything afterward would be doomed to live in the original trilogy's shadow.
Only one I vehemently disagree with is regarding Halo 3's story. Yeah, it isn't as complex and character driven as 2's. But, the Arbiter still gets his glorious finish, plus has occasional monologues that show his state of mind. Truth's transition from 2 to 3 is sudden, but extremely well done. Pretty much everything from The Storm on is perfect story wise as far as I'm concerned. The gameplay of the first three levels is so good, I don't even mind the slow burn of the story till mission 4.
I've always felt that Halo 3's story is just the last hour of Halo 2's story (after the cliffhanger) stretched out over 6 hours. However it's definitely redeemed by the great characters. But marred by some cringe dialogue decisions.
I haven't played Infinite because I can't play 5. But a grapple shot being infinitely available after the way the series has worked with armour abilities (such as the jetpack (with limited use as well)) makes it a very weird choice to provide the grapple shot not as armour ability but as permanent fixture.
2 things: Firstly, Halo is a series that never peaked. Arguably, H3 was peak popularity and cultural influence, but as established, the story massively suffers. Every game has good and bad parts (even the 343 ones). I think 343 should embrace this, and create more focused, riskier, but also smaller, Halo projects. Secondly, I think 343 should have handled Chief's return very differently. Bungie told a very black-and-white story of heroic humans vs evil aliens. However, the actual lore reveals ONI is the space CIA (with all that entails) and the UNSC is a quite brutal military dictatorship. Hell, the Spartans are evidence enough of this. In the context of the Human-Covenant war, the ends justify the means. Chief is a product of that war. I'd love for H4 to have explored the moral ambiguities of the Halo universe, and a Halo 5, too. Then, in Halo 6, Chief returns, and struggles to adjust to a world and a story that he doesn't fit into anymore.
Honestly halo 2 having an uninteresting color palette is much more of an issue in the mcc, it looks much more striking in many levels in the original or if u get the relighting mod that fixes alot of the bloom to make it look more like it did on release. Cortana being inconsistent? Sure you can debate that, odst has more of 3s perfection then reach does that's just a fact. 3s story being dissapointing? I think you can make that case but the game is just so bombastic that even if it's the bare necessities of what halo is it's still very enjoyable from setting to setting. With that being said I think it ended perfectly, the brunt of the story is mostly in the ending. Halo 2 also I think hides it's lack of large open fights decently well, yes it's noticeably more linear but none of the people I introduced to halo had nearly as much of a complaint on that front. Everything else I agree with or is rather just a critique on 343s direction which is always good
What if a power hungry ONI faction feverishly searches for forerunner tech with the goal of releasing a flood outbreak, believing they can defeat and fully obtain the Mantle per the final test? This would create a new angle to a flood outbreak.
As for Cortana, CE was unrefined but did a good job introducing her. 2 and 3 were just peak Cortana in appearance and performance. 4 is too awooga and her face looks wrong, 5 is too girl-boss and her face is wrong, infinite was mostly a good return to form, especially with the weapon.
Honestly im kinda happy 343 never touched the flood... considering their rapsheet, i think you need to have the basica down WAY before you make any flood levels. And it took 3 games before they came even close to normal huma v alien gameplay.
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Honestly halo 2 having an uninteresting color palette is much more of an issue in the mcc, it looks much more striking in many levels in the original or if u get the relighting mod that fixes alot of the bloom to make it look more like it did on release. Cortana being inconsistent? Sure you can debate that, odst has more of 3s perfection then reach does that's just a fact. 3s story being dissapointing? I think you can make that case but the game is just so bombastic that even if it's the bare necessities of what halo is it's still very enjoyable from setting to setting. With that being said I think it ended perfectly, the brunt of the story is mostly in the ending. Halo 2 also I think hides it's lack of large open fights decently well, yes it's noticeably more linear but none of the people I introduced to halo had nearly as much of a complaint on that front. Everything else I agree with or is rather just a critique on 343s direction which is always good
The point about Halo being on life support is very common and has been since 2013, but the actual detail isn't discussed enough.
It's easy for people to say "games bad, franchise dead," but the issue isn't just relevance, it's reputational. The sheer amount of brand damage done to Halo since 2012 is hard to describe. It's not that modern kids aren't aware of Halo, the issue is that they *are* aware of it, and for all the wrong reasons.
To the majority of old gamers, Halo is a series that was really good from 2001-2010, and they either moved to PS and forgot it continued, or felt it took a nosedive in quality and never recovered. There are positive memories there, but that's all.
To the majority of young gamers, Halo is an old shooter their older brother, uncle or dad played, and the public image of the franchise is one of consistent disappointment, development hell, developer/publisher misconduct and scandal. Scandal after scandal.
12 years of nothing but brand damage so far, who knows how many by the time Halo 7 is revealed, and it's possibly the single greatest uphill battle 343 and Microsoft could face. Repairing that level of damage alone will take years, let alone rebuilding the actual reputation of the series.
Personally I don't think it can be done without requiring a level of investment Microsoft aren't willing to put into Halo.
For real man, I felt like Infinite was a turning point in winning a lot of good favor back but all the shenanigans with how the multiplayer was handled really killed that hope in its crib. Player counts at least on pc dropped to like 3-4k within the first 6 months. That kind of population was what Halo 3 and Reach had like 10 years after their launch. They were so close with Infinite but they couldn't help tripping over themselves before the finish line lol.
All it would take is one amazing game.
But Halo 4 is literally the best story in the franchise, plus it's the first one I played so that means it's good. - Says every 343 fans.
Same goes for Star Wars.
You can blame 343 for destroying the reputation of Halo. Trash studio
Halo 3's story is okay but a definite downgrade from Halo 2. It was so disappointing to see the deuteragonist with the compelling backstory and character development be reduced to Master Chief's sidekick. Not to mention the dialogue in general is weaker and cringe at some points. Also the constant Cortana and Gravemind interruptions were really annoying. The campaign was way too short as well with only 9 missions.
It's a shame because the game is extremely fun to play and Halo 3 could have been the best if it wasn't for these shortcomings.
I needed to get new, high-quality footage of Halos 2 and 3 to use in the videos recently, and I ended up playing through both twice for some stupid reason. What I found most striking is how dirty The Arbiter is done in 3. He's barely a character at all. It's understandable, of course, given sentiment towards him was very different then compared to now, but it's very jarring when playing the games consecutively.
It’s unfortunate that the fan reception to playing as the Arbiter was very poor at the release of Halo 2. I also think a lot of casual players probably just skipped cutscenes and found themselves stuck in an elite body with no explanation, and didn’t like it. The devs just listened to the audience (something Bungie was good at) and in this case it didn’t work out for the better.
Keyword: It's "okay".
I still think 3 is the best imo, when I look at the games as a whole. Not the best campaign no, but that was probably the greatest game launch experience that I have ever taken part in. I think between the solid campaign, S tier multiplayer, and new additions like forge mode, theater, file sharing, it was not only a fully complete package, but the best Halo game ever released, or at least to me personally.
@@CargoShorts7 in terms of gameplay, Halo 3 is almost perfect. Especially the multiplayer.
Halo 3's disappointing story should not be controversial in the slightest. It's not bad by any means, but the character build-up in Halo 2 for the Gravemind, the Arbiter and the Prophet of Truth were simply wasted. The Arbiter is nothing more than a sidekick in this game, the Gravemind went from a cunning villain which fooled both you and the Arbiter to a thing that screams at you during Gravemind moments. And most regrettably Truth, he seemed to have an ulterior motive in Halo 2, which was never truly explained. Why did Truth fracture the Covenant during such a vital moment, did Truth truly believe in the Great Journey and did he know what the rings would do. Instead of giving a satisfying culmination to his character we got a Truth who acts completely opposite to his Halo 2 counterpart. Not cunning but hot-heated and arrogant. Halo 2's original story boards mostly answer these questions. This all is likely due to the unfortunate negotiations that were being done by Joe Staten and Jason Jones with Microsoft concerning Bungie's departure.
I have similar feelings about Halo 3's story, its not bad just a bit disappointing.
I think with the way Halo 2 ended and the cut content added for Halo 3 ‘s story with the Ark for example.
It’s not bad but it’s definitely a step down from CE and 2. I’d even argue that 3 has the weakest story of all the Bungie games.
i feel the biggest issue is the weak opening, like halo 2 had such a great intro but halo 3 just kinda starts.
Hell. A friend of mine and starting to agree with him on this take: what was Halo 3's story really all about?
Growing up is realizing that Halo 3 has the most fun campaign, with one of the worst stories.
After looking into the development of the campaign, it makes total sense. Thank god Marty pulled it all together last minute, to put out something semi tangible
I will give 4 takes from cold to HOT.
- NEVER let a new player start with REACH. If anyone wonders why, I can elaborate.
- 343 made TOO MANY SPARTANS. They used to be special. Now everyone can be a spartan and ODST's don't matter.
- The repulsor is more fun and straight up better than the grapple hook. The fact that they could not get the repulsor in campaign was an atrocity.
- Finally. A Halo hero shooter could work.
Why not let people start with Reach? Too depressing?
And what's a hero shooter?
I tried to get a friend into Halo, and I started with Reach because I like to go chronological on series, aaand I have to agree. It's not a good fit for a new player, it presumes that it's the last game in the franchise and sort of branches out in different experimental ways. I love it, but it is not an introduction to Halo, it's a fond farewell.
@@tiagodecastro2929 halo reach is the first one chronologically but its the most polished and has the most mechanics out of the bungie era games. If you start w CE and move through them by when the games released, then it feels a lot more fluid and easier to take in. Ive tried starting on reach several times but i get too invested w the characters and mechanics that when i move to CE it feels like a huuge step back
The Spartan 4s could have worked if they were significantly weaker than the IIs and IIIs.
ODSTs could have been the rouge class. Doing the job then blending back into the crowd of regular troopers. The sucker punch.
Spartan II and IIIs are the uppercut and jab. Enemy's a bit dazed from the surprise attack but now the real fight begins. They take down the now alerted but weakened enemy. ODSTs give Spartans a chance, but the mission went from impossible to technically possible.
IVs are for everything inbetween. Stronger than ODSTs, weaker than Spartans. For when a .22 won't cut it and an RPG is overkill. Works similar to the IIIs but with slightly worse performance. The genetic augments are a step above Orions but still need Mjolnir to be restricted and cheaper so it doesn't kill them.
@@tiagodecastro2929 (Reach is my favorite Halo game before I continue) Halo Reach has so many new mechanics. It don't make sense to give em all the mechanics and pull the rug out from under em with CE. Also narrative stuff like delivering Cortona does not has the same impact if you have no idea how important she was.
The Flood return needs to come back with the M rating. You cant do modern graphics flood transformations without blood and gore.
I wouldnt use the word "gore" because Halo has never recurred to that (Except for that shitty tv show)
I'd call it body horror.
@@HowDoYouTurnThisOn_Uhm you see an Elite with his stomach ripped apart in 343 Guilty Spark
Rumors about a remake of the series with an m rating
@@HowDoYouTurnThisOn_flood is gore, dude
100000%. T rated Halo is kinda lame lol
I never even thought of Halo having a different protagonist along the entire game other than Chief, but it honestly makes sense. I'd love to have a few games dedicated to Buck's rise through the ranks as a marine, then ODST and finally a Spartan.
Buck would have been a good choice, as he would have kept 343's work connected to Bungie's stories but provided enough wiggle room to develop something new as well.
10:09 yeah that’s a lot of franchises now. Halo, Mass Effect, Fallout, Dragon Age, Call of Duty, Far Cry, etc. The people who made these franchises special are all long gone, it’s just the brand title now.
That sucks, but it is true.😢
Don’t cry but rejoice in a new future of games a new story begins when one ends
Regarding the people who made Halo special being long gone, I believe several of the OG people have actually expressed an interest/willingness in returning. I'm really not sure why Microsoft/343 wouldn't be all over getting as many of them back as possible. They did hand the reigns back to Joe Staten and very briefly Paul Bertone, but I think rumor is that they were purposefully kicked back out...
@takataka54732 you know why.
If you want Fallout, the London mod is the way to go. It has its shortcomings, but it's a pretty spectacular achievement considering it's a mod. I hope Mass Effect returns to its former glory at some point too, 2 in particular is such a special game.
Agree 100% on the health packs. It’s a perfect balance of two health systems and has far more strategy in gameplay than only regenerating health. I was thrilled when they returned in Reach and could not understand why 343 scrapped them again for 4.
The genius is that it rewards considered play far more than simply having recharging shields. With only shields, every encounter can be viewed as a one off, as you always have the same health conditions, so to speak, going into it, with there being no long-term consequences for poor play. With shields and health, the shields are there to ensure any encounter is beatable regardless of how well you've done prior, while the health provides consequence across the enitre level.
My controversial opinion is that it'd be okay if Halo died at this point, if they just stopped making games. They can't cater to a new audience because the new audience isn't interested in the IP. And the old audience is jaded and would rather play the older Halo games. 343 and Microsoft should think about making something new. Something not tied to the expectations of Halo, that could appeal to a new and old audience. But I can't see them doing that, you can't really be creative in large gaming companies anymore, because there's too much money on the line.
So more realistically, if Halo doesn't die, I really hope they just help iterating on Infinite's sandbox and not reinvent the wheel for every new game.
The ridiculous budget required to produce a modern triple A game these days is such a huge problem. It's an interesting thing to think about, as technologies are emerging to counter that, to some degree, think AI being used in various ways or ray tracing eliminating the design cost associated with pre-baked lighting, shadows etc. But then, there will also be less jobs and creativity is stifled, so where do you draw the line?
This take hurts my heart heavily, but is an honestly good take. I hate it, but its like knowing your dog has cancer. I really dont want to see it go, but watching it die slowly is somehow even worse. No good options.
My most controversial opinion: SWAT is my favorite multiplayer mode, and Reach SWAT is my go-to relaxing Halo multiplayer trip.
Swat was the only game mode I played. Call me trash I don’t care
Ez credits, reach usually had swat daily challenges as well, fell in love with it then first, team slayer and btb are a close second and third for me
I used to play tons of SWAT. As a Counterstrike fanatic, I value speedy headshots highly, and being able to do that in Halo as well was right up my alley.
Asking out of curiosity: considering the wealth of games out there with very short time-to-kill and how what of the big things that makes Halo unique is it's longer TTK… why play Halo when you could play some of those other games with shorter TTK?
Not judging your taste or anything, just curious.
Boy that is crazy to hear, I never ever played swat, but I was never good at video games so I can imagine someone at a higher level would enjoy it 😂
I will, in regards to Cortanas look over the various games and ages. I only actually like the model from the 1st game, yes it's a bit clunky and looks odd but I don't see an issue with that? She is, as you say, not human, and it benefits massively the animation style since she doesn't need to compose herself like a human. Theres also the fact that she is your (Master Chiefs) friend, and I liked that your friend on an alien world is also herself quite alien. Plus her appearance is not sexualised like the later models which again I appreciate, because she is your friend not a side quest or piece of eye candy. Elements of her visual style, like her glowing eyes, also works very well with her changing tone of voice which is harder to pull off when your character is meant to look as human as possible. You can play with the colours used on a purposefully designed non realistic character without the effect just looking strange compared to a realistic model.
Halo CE Cortana is also my favorite.
We love CE Cortana in this house
@@Mono_Person That’s right 😊
hate the coomers that always yap about halo 4 cortana, absolutely obnoxious
i agree though, my two favourite cortanas are CE and Infinite's; the weapon is also great too.
The popularity is still there, but I agree. The damage is already done and 343 fumbled around for an entire decade while the era of Halo grows more and more distant.
11:29 Y’know for the longest time, I never understood why there were a good chunk of people that disliked Halo 2’s gameplay, then recently I played through the OG trilogy back to back and I saw it lol. Halo 2 is such a bug-ridden, janky, unbalanced mess with the worst iteration of both the covenant and the flood. It’s still a great game, and most of the problems stemmed from development hell and rushed work so it’s more acceptable.
I think the Grapple Shot should be limited to Ammo like MP.
That would be a good equalizer. It would certainly solve it being used to trivialize encounters like it can with jackals and elites. You'd have to save that last grapple shot for either a quick escape or a clutch strike.
Would also help against boundary breaking haha
I reckon it needs to be a pick up available only in certain areas. Imagine parts like the jumps with the bullfrogs during Exodus in Reach, where the area feels like its been set up to work alongside the jet pack. Otherwise, levels always have to be designed with the possibility that you can go anywhere whenever, which I'd guess makes creating curated encounters nigh on impossible.
@@BenPlaysGames True, specially-tailored sections with the grapple-shot in mind would be an awesome time, I do worry about them being too far and few between and leaving us wanting more though lol
I think a counter to the mobility and versatility of the grapple shot, would be to give more enemies increased mobility. Give some higher ranked enemies thrusters or short ranged jump packs.
Some people might want to kill me because of this, but I think Halo Reach has a better story/gameplay combo than Halo 3... but thats not to say Halo 3 is bad, not at all
Story? I’d agree with you. Gameplay and balancing? Absolutely not. 😅
I don’t pick favorites when it comes to my kids. Except for 343s games. Those have been disowned.
That’s not even that controversial lol Reach’s story is amazing but Halo 3’s is mediocre
Reach is what the kids playing halo wanted after they matured. It's a great story and great game
Same. I replay the Reach campaign most often, then 2, then ODST, then 3, then CE.
The reason why I don't replay CE as much is the levels can be very very long on top of having the worst level in the series also be very long.
Bro, I continue to gain more respect for you with every video (and I already had quite a bit). I legit received death threats over my (not so positive) review of Halo 2. Hearing you say that it’s your least favorite Bungie Halo to play, while still being able to appreciate the story and soundtrack is genuinely refreshing. Same with your thoughts regarding Halo 3. Still my favorite Halo game, but the story was VERY subpar. And of course, Combat Evolved is and will always be amazing. Hope to do a collab video one day 😊❤️
I just finished infinite, the grapple shot was so fun. Grappling and chaining boosts to fly around was probably the most fun I’ve had moving around in halo. I also loved it let you fly punch with the upgrade. Kind of made me feel like I was actually doing “master chief but in the books” things.
I can see a world where it’s only available at certain times (maybe something they could do with jetpacks again). So long as it enhances and makes things feel special. But I really would miss it now I think
Here's a take from me. 343 started great with Halo 4, the music was amazing, the story was pretty damn good and they really humanized chief and Cortana. But with halo 5, they went off the rails. They promised a campaign that was nothing that was shown or even advertised to be. They used to many references from outside material like books, shows and comics making outside reading REQUIRED other then additional hold up or for fans to be like "oh yea that!". I watched nightfall so I knew Locke, we all knew Buck and I knew blue team. But Tanaka and the other on Osiris? Nothing. Making outside materials required to understand story and not to supplement is not a good move. That's when it got off the rails for me, like again in Infinite they made the Banished the main enemies, well go play Halo wars 2 if you want that story and how it led here!
Halo 4 story was all over the place too. Watch the Act Man review he goes in depth on it
I hated halo 4s story but they had some good ideas with the rest of the game, art should’ve been the same tho
In 4 I hated the forerunner retcon tho.
The Prometheans were an awful enemy and aesthetically awful, not to mention the covenant became dinosaurs for some reason. The plot twist was somehow even worse. 4 Had a fun multiplayer, but damn was the story forgettable at best.
I genuinely believe the community as a whole should redact 5 entirely. I can not explain in words how entirely disgusting everything about it was.
@@themasterseye I personally think that adding bionicles as the main enemy faction was a bold move.
I've been a Halo fan since 2002 and im so happy i got to watch/grow up with Halo. It makes me proud that i got to experience its golden days. Halo 3 even brought me an online friend from Canada who has been friends with me for over 10 years.
That's awesome about your Canadian mate. I was playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory one day, got chatting to some dude and mentioned (vaguely, of course) where I lived. Turned out he was a 30-second walk away round the corner, so I popped over and we had a couple of beers. Still one of the most bizarre online experiences I've had.
Honestly I think 343 did try to keep Cortana’s design consistent in their trilogy. Halo 5 was clearly supposed to look like halo 4 Cortana. In the opening cutscene Cortana looks just like she does in halo 4 but they padded out her chest and made her code tattoo pattern more Symmetrical. But the problem in halo 5 was her face. She looks weirdly doll like and less expressive. She’s not ugly, just odd looking. In halo infinite she looks a little better but not by much. And Jen does a way better voice performance for Cortana than she does a motion capture performance. She did great with the weapon but it felt like Cortana was mimicking the weapon. It kinda felt like Jen was having a hard time making them have different mannerisms which wouldn’t have been a problem if Cortana didn’t suddenly start showing mannerisms that she hadn’t in the past and the weapon was, and the made it seem like Cortana had always been that way.
Halo 3's campaign story probably feels underwhelming because it's really the leftovers from Halo 2. It was never intended to be another full game. If you look at it as Halo 2.5 with a tighter sandbox, it begins to make more sense.
this is a good way to put it - honestly if halo 2 released at it's full potential it probably would've been the biggest videogame release of all time lol
@@4nkleI mean I’m pretty sure Halo 2 was the biggest video game release of all time or at least up there for the time that it came out.
It was also because the story was written by committee and Joseph Staten was on vacation while Jason Jones was on sabbatical which left the Bungie team without clear direction on where to go.
a pair of WHAT? 6:35 😂
The grapple shot in infinite is way too useful, we shouldn't have been given unlimited uses of it. I did playthrough without using the grapple shot unless I had to and I can say that Halo Infinite is a lot better without it.
Another big problem is that the controls for switching to other equipment are terrible, which really discourages their use. During my recent Infinite playthroughs I tried to use a mix of them, but gave up as I kept fumbling when trying to use something different. It's still more complicated than it perhaps needs to be, but I'd have the four equipment each on a d-pad direction with grenade switching elsewhere. That way, you're always a single button press away from switching to whichever you need.
For the point abt the flood, there is potetnial opening for them, including an infected Spartan. Just depends if 343 want to take that plot thread from Saturn Devouring His Son audiobook. They could use it for a spin-off game set around 2556-2557 (in universe year)
I still think 3 is the best imo, when I look at the games as a whole. Not the best campaign, no, but that was probably the greatest game launch experience that I have ever had the privilege to take part in. The whole "finish the fight" marketing and Mountain Dew collab. Man. I'm definitely somewhat blinded by rose tinted nostalgia glasses, but I think between the solid campaign, S tier multiplayer, arguably best sandbox and new additions like forge mode, theater, file sharing, it was not only a fully complete package, but the best Halo game ever released, or at least to me personally.
To be fair
Halo infinite had 20 million players at one point, so the popularity is still there, it was just the execution,
Unless 343 lied about the numbers
I like Infinite, like completing every Weekly since late-Winter Update like it (It’s the best multiplayer experience since CE/2, moreso CE and Halo 3 is Mud Trudger 2007: Crappy Sandbox Edition), but I think the 20 million was unique players over a timeframe.
I love Infinite's gameplay. In fact, and this isn't something I'm proud of, I have more than 1,000 hours logged on multiplayer since its release. It may well be considerably more honestly, but I can't bear to look. I just bounced off it eventually (haven't played regularly in months) due to net code still being rubbish despite the game's age. It's insane how bad it can be at times.
I have to agree with you on Halo 3's story. It was too short and too compressed, plus there were only 9 levels, and some levels are just fillers.
Ben actually explained this, and that he said that Halo 3's story would've been so much better if there were short cutscenes or shorter levels, rescue Cortana in the midpoint of the game, then finish it with a bang in the second half.
On Halo 2's visuals, yes. Too dark, especially the indoor environments, and even Quarantine Zone's outdoor sets.
Can't agree more on the grapple-shot! The extreme number of indoor forerunner spaces through the Halo Infinite campaign are the result of the grapple-shot. You'd need a load of disappointing invisible walls to have linear outdoor sections.
I completely agree with Halo being on life support. I daresay the franchise can never recover, not without a miracle. And that miracle will never come from 343, perhaps a CE with a good portion of the original dev team could breath some new life into the franchise: Marcus Letho as art director, Marty O'Donnell as audio director, Joe Staten as cinematic and narrative director. But that's likely the most unlikely scenario for this franchise. And I hate that, I absolutely love Halo. It has been and always will be my favourite gaming franchise.
I actually liked Escharum as a main villain, his whole like character and personality just fits with me and the idea of him dying from a terminal illness and would rather die in battle against the Master Chief is such a badass way to die, knowing he’d die in a 1v1, and the cherry on top is the Chief comforting him as he dies, despite being enemies they are both soldiers and were just doing their job
...right after escharum was done torturing chief's friend almost killing him the same way spartan griffin was...lol
i get what they wanted to do but they went with it very awkwardly.
Yeah its always so great to watch the character who has been the only one keeping the entire race from being obliterated suddenly become forgiving and friendly to a creature that is helping put his friends, and his entire species at risk of extinction (again).
Im not trying to say he shouldnt have emotion, or that humanizing him is a bad thing, but his ENTIRE PREMISE is that he is the staunch defender of humanity, why would he sympathize with someone that malicious that killed hundreds if not thousands of people?
I was introduced to Halo as a franchise around the time of Halo 4s launch and as a result I have an extremely nostalgic connection to 343s early games being 4 and 5. But it’s hard for me to argue that Halo now isn’t as popular as it once was as I never got to experience Halo 2 or 3 in its prime. As a result I do like those older Bungie titles, I mean combat evolved is one of my favourites in the franchise, but I just don’t “get” why people are all over them, probably for the same reasons why I love Halo 4 and 5 being deeply engraved into my childhood.
About the grapple shot. I think it should return as an optional armor ability like sprint was in halo reach. I could definitely see some campaign levels built entirely around traversing via a convenient grapple shot you found nearby, and it makes for a nice addition to the sandbox. That being said, I've never played 5 or infinite, so I'll admit it may be worse than it seems, but i dont think it should be shelved entirely. Just reduced to just another toy in the toy box that is halo at its best.
Halo 3's story has a lot of issues. Too many levels take place on Earth. Not enough levels take place on the Ark, and pretty much everything that happens in the story, happens after The Storm. The elites feel underutilized. They ought to have been a consistent presence through the game so we could get a better sense of tension between them and the UNSC. The Arbiter and Spec Ops Commander have almost nothing to do in terms of character development, and I think Halo 3 absolutely needed some cutscenes that follow Truth's perspective, so we could have a better sense of how our actions affect the Covenant, and he needed to be written to be less of a psycho and more of a refined psychopath as he was in Halo 2. Overall the story just needed more time to breathe.
The take that gets me the most death threats is that Combat Evolved is the best in the franchise and no other game comes close. I've heard all the criticisms, but they either don't make sense or don't apply to me. Phenomenal game.
CE is the best. It tells the best story.
It's my favourite too mate, to the extent I put in number one in my 'Which Halo Is Best?' video.
My hot takes:
Halo 2 legendary is my preferred way of playing the game
Halo 3's story has such bland and watered down writing I genuinely cannot enjoy it. Basically killed everything halo 2 had going for it.
Halo 4's story is rough around the edges but still of high quality
Halo 5 multiplayer is the best multiplayer I've ever played
Halo infinite is overall a very bland, unimpactful experience campaign wise
halo 4 take is definitely true - if the art direction and gameplay was better in 4 people would've regarded it as good as the bungie trilogy imo
Genuinely cannot enjoy 3s story but thinks 4s is high quality. Alright, buddy, I know what kind of man you are
The thing with a Flood infected Spartan is that it has recently actually happened. And the infected Spartans have access to an FTL capable vessel. So, that could make for something interesting later on.
i think the best shot at a flood comeback is the halo ce remake. hopefully they don’t screw it up. thanks for the video ben. do you plan on streaming anytime soon?
No worries, noah! I do plan to get back to streaming next week. I've had the dual issue recently of not sleeping well and my back playing up, which has meant I'm always tired in the evenings and not in the humour to be upbeat and chatty. Still knackered but back's getting better now, so should be grand to get started again in a few days' time.
@@BenPlaysGames no worries. i’m gonna try to catch you live next time. i missed the last couple.
I think it would be really interesting from a gameplay standard, but also storywise, if the flood came back with new tactics. They're portrayed as an unimaginabely old force, with all the arrogance to go with it. After being defeated the way they were by humanity, it would be a really cool concept to see them go back to the drawing board, then maybe in gameplay see them trying different things, with some of them working and some of them not until the next level or so where they consolidate their strategies.
i literally remember my 12 year old self beating halo 3 after all the anticipation and hype thinking “that’s it? that’s the conclusion?”
you explained it perfectly.
I agree a lot with the Chief should have stayed gone for a bit more. It would let the universe mature. Most sci fi is either at contact (Halo) or well past it, so the dust of the covenant war would need to settle before new tensions rise and new heroes would be better apt for the new universe.
I sometimes also wonder if it would be better to have a Halo CE 2, as in 343 just remakes it with a few changes perhaps and reboots the series. Clearly 343 wants to change the direction and have the Chief, so just clearing the slate a bit more would give better creative freedom. Sometimes it works for comic books.
I'm open to anything Halo-related if it ends up being good, even remakes. Just imagine the vitriol if 343 messes it up, though!
@@BenPlaysGames When. When 343 messes it up lol.
Pretty much completely agree! Few of these takes should to be controversial.
I'll add a couple:
1: Halo developers need to find gameplay that feels good and true to Halo and then adapt the story and aesthetics around said gameplay. It's more important to to have core Halo gameplay be good than avoiding retcons (is anybody anoyed that they brought Johnson back for H2 despite dying potentially many times in CE?).
2: Bosses suck and shouldn't really be in any Halo game. Yes, I include Infinite in that. (Really powerful enemies used sparingly in another matter though, just don't *ever* put in me in another boring boss arena).
Thanks for the video again! I'm finally back to playing Halo after a long break, but I never stopped watching your Halo vids.
I think the grapple shot was introduced bc of the open world. Halo 1 walking in Infinite would've been tedious and driving everywhere just means you've got lots of empty space, the grapple shot allows for a middle ground exploration
343 cops a lot of flak for making Chief have feelings, but this was already a direction the series had taken under Bungie just not with Chief, 343 just continued that and the only way they knew how to continue to series was bringing Chief back
Halo Infinite was a very good base for a modern game as a service thing, they just didn't follow that up with any content to keep it going
Halo 2 is best Halo, how dare you lol
"to suddenly be equipped with a pair of honking great cyber wabs"... that had me chuckling for at least a minute straight
Im now going toi call them honking great cyber wabs
I ran that line past my wife before using it to make sure it wasn't too stupid haha.
@@BenPlaysGames If she has a pair of Honking great cyber wabs your a lucky man.
I didn't have an Xbox 360 growing up, so I never got to play Halo in it's prime.
I'm fine with Halo not being the big game everybody plays, I just wish we get a new game that doesn't split the fanbase every time.
On another note, I'm fine with Master Chief returning in 4, but after the end of that game, especially seeing how the game ended, he should has sat out for at least one game before returning.
Halo 5 would have been better, in my opinion, if it would have focused exclusively on Fireteam Osiris, without having to force in Blue Team, the Master Chief and Cortana as well.
11:28 I ABSOLUTELY AGREE! But one thing I've noticed as I watch lots of new people playing Halo for the first time, they love it. In fact, many of them tend to struggle with CEs level design and even dislike it. Maybe it's nostalgia or how tutorial help in gaming culture was back then but the narrow paths of 2 is something I've universally seen new Halo players welcome while some don't care for or even reject CE. Halo 3 did do it better and they enjoyed it too but 2 is what really captured new players I've seen
I overall agree with your points Ben, the one that hits the hardest as a Halo player since CE is that Halo will never reach its greatness (or half of it as you mentioned) again. Honestly, I've played all 343 Halo games but each time they have captivated me less and less, I will never forget the countless hours I spent on Halo 2, 3, Odst and Reachs multi-player, and not to mention Forge and firefight included in those games (especially ODST, looking at you Vidmaster challenges but having Recon armor in Halo 3 made it worth it / a dream come true). All Halos afterwards I played but only for a certain time, I was not intrigued enough to replay the campaign on legendary or dive enough/ for long into forge and MP, which saddens me as I love this IP. I think Infinite was a step in the right direction, but the good ol' days are indeed gone and forever in our memories. Great video Ben, cheers!
Hottest take: Halo 1-3-ODST are perfect games in their own way.
I agree with shelving Chief, but after 4 rather than 3
Yes 8:50 this, this, i always thought that, finally someone said it
I know that Halo 3: ODST was a relatively low budget asset flip of Halo 3 that was in many parts also a testing ground for what would ultimately become Halo Reach, but my biggest hang up with it is how little I feel like it actually makes the most out of it's potential from a player character perspective, especially in regards to what you can do as just an ordinary human in a war fighting alongside borderline genetically altered demigods against an alien alliance where even the weakest of their ranks can make mincemeat out o you. While I largely do lovs ODST and think it executes well enough on its concepts given the resources it had available to it, what bothered me the most about it was that I never truly felt like a grunt fighting an enemy who by all accounts should have me feeling in over my head. For all the training the ODSTs recieve, they're still only human. But instead, I never truly felt that, more just like a slightly nerfed Master Chief.
Regarding your Spartans or Power Rangers tangent, I'm inclined to agree with your points, though to expand further, I think there should be a healthy balance between something like the hand-to-hand/gunplay combat of John Wick and the more super hero elements of what Halo 5 and the novels present. The Spartans being more agile works in the books for me because a lot of that is up to the interpretation of the reader, I think directly translating it to a cutscene while forgetting that Halo has its roots in the likes of Aliens, Starship Troopers (the original 1954 novel in particular) and other gritty military sci-fi results in something that, yes, looks very fucking cool, but also can't help but look a bit silly too.
I would love a flood focused horror game where you play as a group of Marines trying to lead a group of civilians out of the ruins of New Mombasa as the flood slowly close in around you all the while the looming threat of being glassed is weighing over your heads
Ben, you bring up a lot of points that I have had brewing in my head for a while and new ones that I still agree with.
I would’ve preferred if they let Master Chief sit on ice a little bit while 343i took the opportunity to establish new characters and stories. I imagine the suits probably saw the green giant as the poster boy for Microsoft though and thought people wouldn’t know what Halo was without him.
I also agree that if they do bring The Flood back, which I think they should, that we shouldn’t defeat them in the same game we find them in. 343, or Halo Studios now, needs to understand that regardless of fan backlash, that the writers should see their story to completion, and stop softly rebooting the story every game. Let The Flood win and let it happen for a few games. Not everything needs to happen in the same game.
I like the idea of the Flood winning for a game or two if they're going to be reintroduced to re-establish why they're such a threat. There are only so many times they can show up and get beaten without them seeming like a neutered threat. It's the same problem with the Borg in Star Trek.
My controversial opinion is that I dislike the cast of ODST. They have cardboard personalities and are very uninteresting. The only thing interesting about the rookie is that he’s quiet and we can project ourselves into his shoes and story. Buck is good enough though, but other than that the others are so unlikeable, stereotypical and shallow. The relationship between Dare and Buck, while okay that they explore relationships in Halo, it just felt very… idk, like out of a goofy early 2000s bad action movie.
Don’t get me wrong, Reach and ODST are lit my favorite games in the series, I just don’t like the squad in ODST.
Controversial, but I agree with all of them.
Great minds think alike!
I think a Halo spinoff that plays like Halo 5 could be very popular, and there’s a surprisingly die hard multiplayer community too. I may wish the story of Halo 5 didn’t happen but man that game was crisp.
Following infinite’s art style and play style I think is good for main style with small changes in the future.
Like I give props to 343 for trying to become different but they should’ve stuck to one consistent story and be more consistent on gameplay mechanics.
But taking Halo 4 and 5’s gameplay styles I do think can find success in spinoffs
Good video, these ideas really provoked my Halo fanboy brain and I gotta say my thoughts for each section
A) I can understand and agree that Halo 3’s story was pretty underwhelming objectively. Let’s take off the rose tinted glasses and analyze each flaws with the campaign. First of all the VA’s for Miranda and Truth have been replaced. Not sure why. Second, Johnson keeps getting captured every so often which doesn’t sound like Johnson. Third while the whole theme is behind Hope and Faith from Chief coming back, it pretty much overshadows Cortana’s role which she doesn’t even come until like the 9th or so mission at the end of the campaign.
B) I really love the Grapple Shot. I know you have some conflicting views about its usage in the open world and the level design. I find it to be a primary fun factor and that’s what makes a video game so important and enjoyable. The Grapple Shot really brings fast-thinking moments in action whether it’s grabbing a weapon that cannot be reach, hijacking an enemy vehicle, or simply boosting the speed/momentum of traveling. I don’t think it should be scrapped but rather like you say as an equipment.
C) It has been proven that Halo can be more than just Chief. ODST and Reach are like spin-off stories that tell the angles not told before. As well as Halo Wars and Halo Wars 2. I think 343 and MS should keep the idea of other people’s parts in the universe to expand the lore and what happens. For those that say Chief is only being used as a puppet I’m gonna destroy that argument here in another point.
D) I understand the Cortana design philosophy in each Halo game like in CE she was purple, then 2 she’s blue, in 3 she’s even more blue and bright. 4 and 5 she kept a consistent design until Infinite which is pretty impressing to think about.
E) Spartans in lore versus the gameplay or what is being presented in the games are a balancing factor. In the novels Kelly is so fucking fast that anyone can barely get a glimpse of her, what we saw in the introduction of 5 was just for power fantasy and entertainment lol
F) I never thought or kept in mind when CE was being developed taking the traditional arena shooter like health system and improvising it. Health in FPS games has been a greater importance of survival for Half Life, Doom, and Quake. The shield was merely a layer for the player to think methodically because you’re a Spartan, not a marine.
G) I am now a firm believer that every franchise or IP has hit their peak at least once. And just like the reality we live in, as much as we want the golden era of video games and movies back. It’s gonna be a rough challenge because the gaming and movie industry has CHANGED majorly. It’s more about stocks and shareholders than passion & creativity. Sure now there are some games that keep the principle of awesomeness and fun going like Space Marine 2, Black Myth Wukong, Helldivers II etc. Halo will be alright, but it cannot reach the Second Coming of Christ because we all age so quickly and our perception of the past blinds our ambitions.
H) I find Halo 2 to be entertaining as hell especially the marine and covenant ally dialogue.
I) I am one of those that hate the Flood as an enemy because they’re so annoying. But I feel they have an identity crisis because of the Forerunners now brought into play and only act as a galaxy threat to the franchise and every sole beings existence. Rather they should be used wisely in a narrative rather than just a common occurring enemy.
I would love a kilo-9 game
One thing that bothered me about halo 3 was that the whole first half of the game was just a road trip to the portal to the ark with basically no other objective. Then stuff happens.
THANK YOU for mentioning how unfun Halo 2 is to play. The story is great, but the gross, blurry, brown visuals dont help.
First point I agree fully with, it isn't really controversial either from what I have gathered. The story does take a step down in terms of complexity and depth. It of course doesn't take away from the absolutely wonderful game that Halo 3 is though.
Actually, the way you phrase it, the grapple shot really wasn't all that good an idea for Halo. Of course it's incredibly fun to use, but it's just so overpowered and often gives you an easy way out.
Master Chief point I can agree with as well, 343 should have started with one or two spin offs, introducing new characters and keeping the chief in ice but this is actually a little more controversial, I can only remember how hyped I was when Halo 4 was revealed.
Cortana's redesign suffers from the thing that the whole of the reclaimer saga suffers. "It was great before, let's change it" seems to be their design philosopy. And while it doesn't matter to me all that much how exactly Cortana looks, I can see why many might be irked.
The spartan power rangers thing I don't agree all that much with honestly. Because given the possiblity, a four man team of players would plow through a group of covenant exactly that way. Though I think the problems here stem from a deeper problem. The tone shift that halo 5 suffers from. Each Halo was, as you said, gritty and militaristic, with Reach being by far the most gritty one. And then you have Halo 5, that just seems to be going for a cartoony look and feel. It's rated T for Teen for a reason.
Ah yes, Halo is 100% on life support as you say it. It's been declining ever since Halo 4 released and instead of setting trends like the bungie era games did, 343 has only been chasing trends, trying to appeal to a broader audience. Rebooting the franchise with each new entry and waiting for such a long time between 5 and 6 with no content besides book and Halo Wars 2 was a pretty bad idea. Halo could become successful again, I don't doubt that, but just how the series is going to continue on is hard to say sadly.
Finally someone says it. Halo 2 has some of the most boring levels in the series and even the high points aren't all that high when you rank them compared to the other Halo games. It's just...narrow and while I can see how the brown colour palette came to be, I don't like it either, it's just missing vibrant colours.
Halo 2 is still absolutely amazing as a game, but out of the series, it simply has the worst level design.
The flood take is probably the most controversial one. But I see where you are coming from and I tend to agree with your point. The flood are beaten and I think they should mostly just stay that way. Bring them back in (again) spin offs. I didn't play it, but I've been told that awakening the nightmare was a great way to handle it and that is where I see the flood in the future, at least for a long while.
I agree with every point you made 👍🏻 Infinite was my first halo and I can’t believe the mishandling and would be totally fuming if I was a OG player
If Halo 3 came out today (with modern graphics obviously) I doubt its story would’ve been as well received
Not to mention, halo 3 adds NO new characters to the story which is why it seems a bit of a letdown
Came here to agree with the gripes about Halo 2 👍
I thought the grapple was cool, felt a lot like the gmod grapple hook swep. But it would absolutely destroy a mission like Truth and Reconciliation, where verticality a big part of the ship section
Fire team Osiris should have been an ODST squad and “the Spartan” should have been a “your Spartan” model like Reach.
Here’s my take on the campaigns
- If you want the best set pieces you play Reach
- If you want the best gameplay and level design you play 3 (minus cortana)
- If you want the best writing and story you play 2
- If you want the most balanced experience you play CE
- If you want the best atmosphere you play ODST
- If you want none of what’s listed above you play Halo 5
Lmk what y’all think
I agreed 1000% with the take that Master Chief’s story should’ve ended at Halo 3. He is a heroic figure that conquered the flood and the covenant. However, the characters in 343i Halo don’t get a chance to shine with MC taking the whole spotlight. They should’ve done the Reach route where we make a Spartan IV and play the campaign and multiplayer as that Spartan. Then we could’ve followed and bonded with Locke and Palmer, two characters that I like, but are not popular because one has a mission to bring the MC in for going AWOL and the other had the nerve to do the worst possible thing a person could ever do to another human being, she made a sly joke that any normal person would forget about almost immediately after it was said
I've been saying the health+shields combo part for 20 years now
The grappleshot would have been perfect in the campaign if its number of uses was limited to 1 before you needed to find more grapples.
We need a Halo horror game without Master Chief, just with a normal soldier as a protagonist
I think I have the winning isolated answer. I think Halo 2 and 3 were a narritive setback. Notice I said narritive. Why? Halo CE treated the story of the UNSC has a whole with characters playing their role. With 2 and 3, they focus so hard on characters, the UNSC took a backseat. With Maranda Keyes specifically doing stupid shit that doesn't make sense because she had to have her spotlight
I like a lot of the opinions here :) Has Ben ever given his thoughts for best strategy to make a Halo CE full remake / reboot?
I did actually do something along those lines in this video: ruclips.net/video/2srjx_qgvFk/видео.html
I can't remember what I said in it (terrible memory) but I think it goes into some detail about the idea.
@@BenPlaysGames ah okay. I like your thoughts in that video too!
My hot takes (sorry in advance):
1. Halo 3 is the worst Bungie game, and it isn't even close. Sgt. Johnson's death was cheap and out of place, and it robbed us of future stories with him. And I don't agree at all that the ending of Chief and Cortana being adrift in space was the "perfect ending." It felt like a huge cliffhanger (especially after viewing the legendary ending). Additionally, Halo 3 doesn't look good graphically; it looked very rushed to me and lacked a bunch of much-needed polish. Lastly (and I could be wrong about this), it's very clear that Halo 3 was not designed to be played solo; it's clearly a coop game. Playing it solo is very dull and disappointing, especially for someone like me who likes to solo the campaigns. All of this combined makes Halo 3 an extremely unpleasant experience to play.
2. Halo 4 is my second favorite Halo game (Halo 2 is my favorite). Yes, the MP is too COD-esque, and the Promethians are a slog to battle. However, the scenery, world-building, and the variety of settings (forest, UNSC ship, etc.) made the game feel very fresh to me. Plus, as I said above, Halo 3 gave me no cloture with its ending (I argue that it's worse than Mass Effect 3's ending), but 4 did give me that cloture I was longing for (yes, Cortana was "dead," but our hero Master Chief got to go home not into another cryo-chamber).
3. Will there be more Halo games? Yes. Will it be impossible for them to succeed? Absolutely. 343 does share a large portion of the blame for this, but in addition to that, we, as Halo fans, are a dwindling fanbase and currently out of sync with the current dynamic of video games. It truly breaks my heart to say that. Sadly we are at the point now where it isn't so much as can 343 put out a good Halo game, but rather, would enough "non-Halo initiated" people care?
4. I predict that the next Halo game will not continue Infinite's story and be a true reboot in an effort to capture new fans. New fans won't buy a Halo 7 that continues a story that they never played in the first place. Again, we are a dwindling fanbase, and as Sean W said, "we don't matter." 343 and its trajectory has become so convoluted that there is really no other way forward, other than wiping the slate clean and starting over. Expect a Star Trek (2009) style reboot that does enough to honor what came before but does other things that changes its vibe, becoming the new "status quo" of Halo.
5. The rumors of the Unreal engine being used for future games will not make them feel like Halo, and handing the franchise to another studio will not make the future games feel like Halo either (it would actually make them worse).
6. I fully expect 343 to be radio silent until they are ready to announce something (if they ever do). Xbox Games Showcase 2025 at the earliest. And when they do, it will either be a small trailer, or they will say "we are working on the next main entry in the Halo franchise" and will have more to share in 2026, leaving it at that. The reason for this is that the longer they wait, the more impactful an announcement will be. My guess is (however irrational it may be) that when they announce something, they want to have that GTA 6-type splash.
Couldn't agree more about Halo 2's gameplay. It's the one I dread playing the most when going through the series, really only looking forward to the cinematics.
Thanks for the video, interesting stuff. Unfortunately have not played all of them. CE was the first one I played. Very scary and difficult for a complete beginner ! Took a long time to finish it Lol...
ODST - to be honest, did not know what I was supposed to be looking for besides other soldiers...v confusing.
Halo 3 - so so...
Reach - blown away by it. The graphics,the music, the story line - absolutely adore it.
Wish there were more like it.......
No worries, Janet! Hope all's well.
I love Reach too, quality game. I'd have loved more Master Chief free ensemble games like it and ODST, as it's a format that worked really well.
@@BenPlaysGames Indeed, that format is great. I have nothing against ODST, I just didn't understand the mission, plus walking around that city in the dark was creepy ! Have a great day...
Agreed the grapple is fun, but it turns the perfect Halo combat triangle into some sort of square, level design and tactics become so fluid that they don't really matter anymore. I think that's a really well considered take from you.
If the grapple shot had realistic products physics it might be worth keeping. You'd actually dangle from it instead of just flying in a straight line, and it wouldn't be nearly as fast.
This series needs to get closer to Halo 5 gameplay again. Thrust was a real game changer and Infinite's sandbox keeps getting changed because players no longer have a way to counter strong weapons or extend a fight and possibly turn the tables.
I also don't think that Halo 5 scene is representative of Spartans from the books. The books keep in mind that they're part of a military force that has given them extensive training on effective tactics. Spartans move in squads, they use strategy, they rely on weaponry and force multipliers like vehicles, not heroic stunts.
The what ifs are the most painful part of the last decade of halo
The grapple shot has never made sense to me, ah yes a couple thousand pound Spartan can be pull himself towards an enemy half the size
love all these points but i kinda disagree with the health pack one. halo 2 and 3’s campaigns have a lot of replayability because i can approach enemy encounters differently each time without worrying about finding health packs. now, i absolutely love halo reach which uses health packs but i always have to play in a certain way to get through the campaign efficiently and have less spontaneous gameplay freedom compared to 2 and 3.
My hot takes: 1. The Library and Cortana, while terrible, are necessary for both game and story. First, they introduce the Flood as a true horror enemy. Second, their monotonous tone makes the following levels a breath of fresh air, despite being eerily familiar and kind of monotonous in their own rights. (Seriously, Assault on the Control Room THREE TIMES!)
2. Halo 3 ruined any future Halo games. It eliminated the Flood (mostly) and ripped up the Covenant. Basically, our hero defeats the biggest baddies in-universe. Bungie didn't even try to write a proper sequel, and when 343i tried, they had to do some retconning of the Forerunners and Cortana to build anything near the level of either the Covenant or Flood. Basically, Halo 3 "finished the fight," and everything afterward would be doomed to live in the original trilogy's shadow.
Only one I vehemently disagree with is regarding Halo 3's story. Yeah, it isn't as complex and character driven as 2's. But, the Arbiter still gets his glorious finish, plus has occasional monologues that show his state of mind. Truth's transition from 2 to 3 is sudden, but extremely well done. Pretty much everything from The Storm on is perfect story wise as far as I'm concerned. The gameplay of the first three levels is so good, I don't even mind the slow burn of the story till mission 4.
I agree regarding the Flood. I think, on paper, the Flood is a fantastic antagonist but I never want to play against them again lol.
I've always felt that Halo 3's story is just the last hour of Halo 2's story (after the cliffhanger) stretched out over 6 hours. However it's definitely redeemed by the great characters. But marred by some cringe dialogue decisions.
I haven't played Infinite because I can't play 5. But a grapple shot being infinitely available after the way the series has worked with armour abilities (such as the jetpack (with limited use as well)) makes it a very weird choice to provide the grapple shot not as armour ability but as permanent fixture.
Not controversial at all, just spitting straight facts Ben!
2 things: Firstly, Halo is a series that never peaked. Arguably, H3 was peak popularity and cultural influence, but as established, the story massively suffers. Every game has good and bad parts (even the 343 ones). I think 343 should embrace this, and create more focused, riskier, but also smaller, Halo projects.
Secondly, I think 343 should have handled Chief's return very differently. Bungie told a very black-and-white story of heroic humans vs evil aliens. However, the actual lore reveals ONI is the space CIA (with all that entails) and the UNSC is a quite brutal military dictatorship. Hell, the Spartans are evidence enough of this. In the context of the Human-Covenant war, the ends justify the means. Chief is a product of that war.
I'd love for H4 to have explored the moral ambiguities of the Halo universe, and a Halo 5, too. Then, in Halo 6, Chief returns, and struggles to adjust to a world and a story that he doesn't fit into anymore.
Honestly halo 2 having an uninteresting color palette is much more of an issue in the mcc, it looks much more striking in many levels in the original or if u get the relighting mod that fixes alot of the bloom to make it look more like it did on release. Cortana being inconsistent? Sure you can debate that, odst has more of 3s perfection then reach does that's just a fact. 3s story being dissapointing? I think you can make that case but the game is just so bombastic that even if it's the bare necessities of what halo is it's still very enjoyable from setting to setting. With that being said I think it ended perfectly, the brunt of the story is mostly in the ending. Halo 2 also I think hides it's lack of large open fights decently well, yes it's noticeably more linear but none of the people I introduced to halo had nearly as much of a complaint on that front. Everything else I agree with or is rather just a critique on 343s direction which is always good
Great video, however, I fundamentally disagree regarding Halo 3’s campaign. I think the story is excellent.
What if a power hungry ONI faction feverishly searches for forerunner tech with the goal of releasing a flood outbreak, believing they can defeat and fully obtain the Mantle per the final test? This would create a new angle to a flood outbreak.
Halo CE Remake with cut content, expanded levels, M rated with gore going to PC, Xbox Series X, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2
As for Cortana, CE was unrefined but did a good job introducing her. 2 and 3 were just peak Cortana in appearance and performance. 4 is too awooga and her face looks wrong, 5 is too girl-boss and her face is wrong, infinite was mostly a good return to form, especially with the weapon.
Honestly im kinda happy 343 never touched the flood... considering their rapsheet, i think you need to have the basica down WAY before you make any flood levels. And it took 3 games before they came even close to normal huma v alien gameplay.
I whole heartedly agree with the notion that chief should have been left out after halo 3